WordWorld

Each episode is a narrative built around a wacky troupe of characters, WordFriends, who are characters first and words second. WordFriends go on comic adventures and face challenges that can only be resolved with the right word. Sheep is a shy little girl who loves to pretend; Frog is the cautious brainiac and word "expert"; impetuous Duck is still learning his letters; Pig lives in the moment; Ant is a pragmatic bundle of energy; and Dog is a WordFriend's best friend. A key component of the show is word building, a unique moment when children witness a word "morph" into the thing it is. Word building reinforces the pre-reading concept that letters make words and that words have meaning.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Think in the Rink - Duck and Dog want to join Sheep and Frog in their ice skating show. Although Frog warns Duck and Dog to be careful as they practice, the enthusiastic duo gets carried away and carelessly break the ice skating rink. Will Duck and Dog think up a good solution to the problem before the show begins? X Marks the Spot - Duck must search high and low for his letter X that has gone missing. His good pal Shark accompanies him. Duck hears the letter X everywhere he goes, but why can't he find it? And why does Shark have a stomachache? Both mysteries are solved when Frog builds an X-ray to look inside Shark's stomach.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Race to the Spaceship - Frog must help Robot get to the top of WordWorld's highest mountain and build a spaceship in time to play spaceship tag. By adding one word to another, the WordFriends learn how to make a car, boat and bike go faster. Sandbox Surprise - Duck and Dog become curious about compound words when they discover the word "sandbox" is made of two words. How many words can they pull apart in WordWorld before chaos breaks loose?

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Runaway O - When Sheep and Bear open Cat's box of Os, one rolls away, sending them on a madcap chase to catch it before Cat wakes up. Happy Birthday, Dog! - It's Dog's birthday and all his friends are planning a surprise party. There's just one problem - they need a cake! Frog must get to the party safely without Dog finding out.

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There's an Ant in Every Giant - When Ant grows tired of being the smallest WordFriend in Word World, he adds a G-I to his tiny frame and changes from ANT to GIANT. However, he soon realizes that he can be Word World's biggest hero when he's just tiny Ant. Chef Sheep - When Pig gets a bowl stuck on his face, Sheep must take over his cooking show. Sheep learns to have confidence in herself and saves the day!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Rocket to the Moon - When Frog needs to rescue the Little Piggies from the moon, he learns to appreciate lowercase letters. The Birds - Sheep discovers a large egg and has to take care of it until she can find Bird and return it to its rightful owner.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

The Mystery of the Disappearing Pie - When Pig's pie for Bear goes missing, it's up to Detective Sheep to follow the letter clues and solve the mystery of the disappearing pie! Duck's Family Reunion - Because they have a similar sounding name, Duck mistakes Truck for a long-lost relative! Frog is a bit ruffled at the epidemic of silliness going around, but ends up saving the day for Duck and his word "family".

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Sh-Sh-Shark!: Shark is misunderstood. Everyone is afraid of him and won't even give him a chance to prove he's friendly. Everyone but Duck, that is, who doesn't know that the letters s and h together make the 'sh' sound, and therefore doesn't know who Shark is. When Duck introduces his new friend "S-hark" to the gang, Duck learns a lesson about the /sh/ sound, while everyone else discovers that acceptance is an important part of friendship. Dog Wants to Play Ball: Dog wants to play ball, but he's having trouble communicating with his friends because they won't stop and listen to him.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Pies, Pies, Pies!: When Pig promises to make a pie for everyone in Word World, he learns a hard lesson about keeping promises. Fortunately, he also learns about the letter S and how it can make words plural. Waterlogged: Frog must stay with Pig when his Log sinks, but Frog soon wears out his welcome by being a bad houseguest. After some silly mishaps, Pig and Frog finally come to an understanding - about how important it is to see things from a friend's perspective.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Dog's Camping Adventure: Pig and Frog take Dog on his first camping trip. When they lose one of the letters to their TENT, it's Dog who overcomes his fear and finds it in the dark forest...along with a monster! V is for Vacation: The weather is turning colder, and Duck is ready for his yearly vacation (migration). He's not sure, however, how to go. When Bird tells him he just needs to "find the 'V,'" Duck is off and running on what seems, at first, like a wild goose chase.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Snug as a Bug: Frog helps insomniac Bug figure out the end of the rhyme "snug as a bug in a ..." so that Bug can sleep. Nightlight: The rest of Word World is trying to sleep, but Bear is keeping everyone awake with her all-night racket. When her friends try to get her to go to sleep, they soon realize that Bear is afraid of the dark.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Duck's First Sleepover - Duck attends his first sleep-over party but he's nervous about not sleeping in his nest for the first time. After a long night of fun games his friends calm his anxiety by building him a soft, fluffy nest. One Hat Fits All - Sheep, while practicing her magic act, loses her magicians top hat (it's quite blustery in Word World today). The hat wends all around Word World, visiting Pig, Bear and Duck, breaking into its letters each time it crashes to a halt! And whenever our heroes put it back together, the hat takes on a fresh, new form. For Pig it becomes a chef's hat; for Bear, an artist's beret; and for Duck, a silly propeller beanie! Clearly, this hat is special! Could it even be magical?

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Dancing Dog - It's the day of the Word World Concert and no one is more excited than Dog - he loves music. Unfortunately, he can't play an instrument. With the help of his good friend Bear, Dog discovers that anyone can make music! Pig's Big Moonlight Feast - When Pig is too sick to cook the Moonlight Feast, his friends step in, but they find that if you don't follow the recipe you may end up "in the soup."

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Boppin' with the Bug Band - Ant is having a band showcase on his radio show and while Bug, Fly and Bee have some really good music, they need a lot of help with their lyrics. Frog teaches the Bug Band all about rhyming and they eventually give a fantastic performance. Shuffleword - When Pig and Ant get into an argument while playing Shuffleword, Pig storms off with the consonants and Ant storms off with the vowels but they soon realize that not only do they need each other's letters to make words but they also need each other to have fun!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Princess Sheep - Bear and Sheep want to play princess, but they only have one crown. Although Sheep promises to take turns wearing the crown and being princess, she gets royally carried away playing her role. It is only after she hurts Bear's feelings that Sheep learns that a true princess isn't selfish, but kind and generous instead. Build a Word: CROWN W Drought - It's a hot summer day and all the WordFriends are using water to stay cool. But all the letter Ws start to disappear, and you can't have "water" without the letter W! Sheep leads the gang in the hunt to discover just who's causing the W drought. Build a Word: WATER

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Robots to the Rescue! - When Frog discovers that you can make a word "more than one" by adding the letter S to the end of it, he becomes a mad scientist of sorts, making more and more of everything! Frog learns that while having a lot of stuff might seem like a good idea, too much of anything soon leads to chaos. Frog fortunately has a robot who likes to clean up! Build a Word: ROBOTS. Radio Read-a-thon - Duck asks Frog to read his favorite book on Ant's radio station because he can't read it himself. But when Frog's tongue gets tangled in knots, Duck realizes that he doesn't need to know how to read to be able to look at pictures and tell a great story. Build a Word: BOOK.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Pl-Pl-Plane: Frog and the Bug Band are headed to have some fun on the beach, but not everything goes as Frog had planned. Frog loses the letters "PL" from his plane and must search through the jungle to find them. After some crazy jungle adventures (including a run-in with a giant Frog-kissing plant), Frog realizes that fun doesn't always have to be planned! Mail Mix Up: Duck offers to help Kangaroo deliver letters to his WordFriends, but he forgets Kangaroo's instructions and delivers the wrong letters to everyone. Duck discovers that there sure are a lot of words that end with the sound "ail"-such as NAIL, PAIL and SAIL-and that they sure can't be used interchangeably!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Pig's Present: It's Pig's birthday and his nephews, the Three Little Pigs, are making him a secret present. Although Pig promises not to peek, his curiosity about his present gets the better of him and wreaks havoc all over WordWorld. Will Pig ever learn to be patient? Tick Tock Space Clock: When a mysterious rocket lands in Word World, Duck pledges to help a robot track down a very important clock. He searches all over WordWorld, listening for the special sound that will lead the robot to the clock that will save his home planet.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Castles in the Sea: While playing in the sand on the beach, Duck and Shark discover the perfect home for Shark: a sand castle! But why, oh why, does it disappear every night while Shark is sleeping? When the WordFriends try to hunt down the castle thief, they learn about tides and waves...from a singing Crab. Get Your Coat: Duck thinks Frog doesn't want to play in the rain because Duck accidentally broke Frog's boat. But the real reason is that Frog doesn't like the rain. Duck learns all about words that end with "oat" before finally coming across a word that will allow Frog to play outside in the rain: a coat!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Superhero Sheep: Sheep becomes Word World's first superhero, saving the day with the letter "S"! Duck is eager to be her trusty sidekick, but Sheep repeatedly points out that "superheroes don't need help." But Sheep learns that everyone needs help sometimes when she gets stuck on top of Pig's barn and it's up to Duck to save her. Pirate Ship: While playing on the beach, Sheep, Duck and Shark find a message in a bottle. It's one of several rhyming clues that will lead them to a special treasure! Like hearty pirates, the trio follows the clues and rhyme their way across the sea-if only they had a ship!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

The Christmas Star - It's the night before Christmas and Frog needs a star to hang on his Christmas tree. Duck thinks this will be the perfect present for Frog, and tries to lasso one out of the sky for him. Try as he might, Duck is unable to catch a star for Frog, and cries himself to sleep. But while he sleeps, someone leaves him a wonderful present: the letters S-T-A-R... A Christmas Present for Dog - It's Christmas morning, and all the WordFriends are excited by the presents Santa has brought for them! Pig has a sled, Bear has a doll and Ant has a cookie. But not all the letters for Dog's present came down his chimney. All he has is a B-A-L. Bear gets filled with the Christmas spirit and makes a sacrifice to ensure Dog's Christmas will be merry!

Playing Spies: When Sheep and Duck think that Dog has a secret, they decide to play "spy" to figure out the mystery. As they secretly watch Dog, they discover he wants to build a word with the "oo" sound. But will they be caught before they can guess Dog's secret? Wee Little Whale: Sheep rescues a tiny whale who is stuck in some seaweed and brings her home to her haystack. They quickly become best of friends. But as Whale gets bigger and bigger, outgrowing Sheep's tea cups, bathtubs and pools, Sheep realizes she must return her WordFriend to the sea. Although Whale may be big, her friendship with Sheep proves to be bigger, and the two discover a way to continue to play together: They just have to build a word!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

The Race to Mystery Island: Pig and Frog are trying to out-do each other. Their competition results in a big race to Mystery Island. While each WordFriend builds himself several words to thwart his competitor along the way, Pig and Frog both finally come to realize that the only way they'll succeed is to work together. A Star is Born: Duck gets a case of stage fright while singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" for all his WordFriends. Instead of singing the word "star," Duck freezes and blurts out the first thing he sees. With a little word building, Sheep and Ant solve Duck's problem, and soon a "star" is born.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Back on Track: While looking through his telescope, Frog notices that Kangaroo's mail train is headed straight for a broken track! He has to rely on BEAR and her tiny new tricycle to get him there to fix the track on time. And if the tricycle isn't tiny enough, Dog, Duck, and Ant and all his cousins climb on board to lend a hand. Will they make it in time? The Rainbow Birthday Cake: It is Frog's birthday, and Duck wants to make him a big, beautiful birthday cake frosted in the colors of the rainbow. Such a cake requires lots of cans of frosting, and Duck learns he can't just throw cans anywhere-they must be recycled. In WordWorld, recycling means using the letters in a discarded word to make other words, such as can-dle-which is just what Duck needs for Frog's cake!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Bit by Bit: It is Monkey's birthday, and a sick Frog entrusts Duck and Bug to take his present-a banana-to Monkey's birthday party for him. In their enthusiasm to get to the party, Duck and Bug accidentally break the banana into letters...and they don't know how to rebuild it! It's just too big a word. Fortunately Elephant knows a thing or two about big words, and teaches them to build the banana back, bit by bit, based on the three syllables in the word. Ride 'em CowBear: Pig, Dog and Duck are playing cowboys. Bear wants to join them, but gets frustrated when she learns she's not very good at rope tricks. Dog went let her sulk, though, and after much practice Bear is a rootin'-tootin' CowBear! And just in time-Pig and Duck have herded Cow into the mud!

Play Ball! - The WordFriends play an exciting game of baseball, but Robot has never played before. With some practice, and a lot of encouragement from his WordFriends, Robot learns the game and turns into a slugging machine! M is for Map - After a fun day of adventuring through the jungle, Sheep and Bear discover they are lost - and it's almost dark! In their haste to get home before sunset, the WordFriends lose the letters to their map. They have to sound out and hunt down the letters in "map" - but with Adventure Sheep leading the way, nothing is ever easy!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Flying Ant - WordWorld is all abuzz - today is the Insect Air Show! All the bugs in WordWorld take to the sky to show off their flying skills. All the insects, that is, except Ant, who can't fly. But Ant is a smart, industrious WordFriend, and with the help of his best pal Pig, he finds just the right word to give him the lift he needs to be the hit of the show. The Dancing Duck Bonanza - Duck encourages Shark, who is a great underwater dancer, to dance in his show. When Shark comes up on land to practice, he flops all over the stage like a...well, a fish out of water. But the show must go on! Duck must find a way to put on his show and include Shark.

Upcoming Broadcasts:

The Lost Letter L - When Duck accidentally breaks the L off Frog's lamp, he decides not to tell Frog. Instead, he'll just fix it himself. Although Bug and Dog try to help, things spiral out of control, and soon Duck has broken a lamp, a lever and even Frog's log! Duck learns that everyone makes mistakes and admitting them sooner rather than later can make a big difference. Catch that C! - While Pig and Ant are making cookies, their bag of letter C's gets away from them, sending the WordFriends on a wild goose chase all over WordWorld to catch that C! The bad news is that the letter C is in big demand that day. But the good news is that Pig and Ant have a lot of WordFriends who want to help them out!

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Duck Saves Spider's Web - When Duck accidentally crashes into Spider's web and breaks it apart into letters, he has to go about finding the letters to fix it. But he doesn't know what letters are in the word 'web'! With Elephant's help, he learns that sometimes if you can sound out a word, you can figure out what letters you need to build it. Caterpillar Gets a Home - Duck makes a new friend on a windy, rainy day: Caterpillar. It soon becomes apparent that Caterpillar needs a home to protect her from the elements. Together she and Duck learn to sound out some words which might make suitable homes, such as BAG, CAN and BOX. But which one will be just right?

TV Technical Issues

TV – Transmitter Status

Engineers at Sutro Tower in San Francisco will be doing their annual maintenance work 9am-4pm Mon 8/20 through Fri 8/24.
All stations transmitting from Sutro Tower will be dropping to half-power each day, and perhaps moving from main antennas
at the top of the tower to auxiliary antennas at the “waist” (middle) of the tower … Continue reading KQED DT9, Sutro Tower – Mon 8/20 thru Fri 8/24/18→

We are aware that Comcast is not broadcasting KQED Plus, SD version, on Ch 10 throughout most of the Bay Area. There is no
problem with KQED’s signal, and the HD version of KQED Plus is still operational on Ch710. KQED Plus is also still available
over the air on DT9.2, 54.1 and 25.2. Despite … Continue reading 7/27/18: Comcast Ch10 (SD version of KQED Plus)→

DT25.1, 25.2, 25.3, 25.4 UPDATE: Signal restored as of 7:45pm Friday afternoon (original post): KQET’s signal is down
due to a break in the 3rd party fiber feed between San Francisco and the uplink reception point at California State University
Monterey Bay. The line owner is aware of the issue and working on it.

Channel 9.3, 54.3 and 25.3XFINITY 190 Monterey/Salinas 371 and Sacramento/Fairfield 390)Wave: Channel # may vary.Thought-provoking television — public affairs,
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